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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207166">Descartes and Nietzsche</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandrC'>SandrC</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Eldritch-tober 2020 [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>At the Mountains of Dadness - Freeform, unreality</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:22:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207166</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandrC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cogito ergo est.</p>
<p>A mass hallucination of purpose.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Eldritch-tober 2020 [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Descartes and Nietzsche</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt number 16: moon</p>
<p>Should've had this done earlier but rl beat my ass so I'm recovering now haha. Sorry for the influx of fics but...I wanna finish these and they're fun.</p>
<p>I like solipsism and nihilism as like...explorations of characters and also I love the idea of like...realizing that experience shapes reality.</p>
<p>I don't think Meryl would have escaped the telescope without much change to his psyche. Idk I like cosmic horror like this haha</p>
<p>(Also I'm revisiting HLVRAI and a big aspect of that is like..the simulation theory and psyche break and so on so I'm just there already haah)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He presses his eye to the telescope and sees. He Sees.</p>
<p>It refuses to let him pull away but it doesn't matter. He can See it. The Truth.</p>
<p>The dark side of the moon doesn't exist. There is no hidden aspect to anything. Everything is at face value. <em>Nothing matters.</em></p>
<p><em>Oh</em> but he yearns, then, in that moment-that-is-forever, for the solipsism of his youth. The false idea and hope that he was the center of the universe.</p>
<p>Now he Knows that he isn't. <em>Nothing is.</em> The center of the universe doesn't exist. The universe is a scattering of ideas held together with hope.</p>
<p>On the far side of the moon is a void. One day humans might find their way into space and <em>then</em>? They will see their folly. Beyond the pale face of the celestial satellite that orbits their home, there is <em>nothing but void</em>. Stars are illusions, a collective hallucination, the idea of light. Humans look up and think "the sun is real, so there must be other light in the sky at night". And so: stars. <em>Cogito ergo est.</em></p>
<p>Meryl pulls himself away from the telescope finally, the pale monochrome of his skin not a shock—why <em>would</em> it be? He is aware now and colors are a lie, an illusion, the world is as greyscale as a book—and he smiles, cocksure. He pretends. <em>He lies.</em></p>
<p>Beyond the moon is a void. Beyond the sky is a void. There is nothing out there. He knows this now.</p>
<p>There is no center to the universe. Nothing matters. Dust and simulations. Electricity stimulating the brain.</p>
<p>If he blinks he can imagine stars into existence. If he pretends on screen, he can shape the zeitgeist. <em>Look</em>, there's another constellation. I put it there <em>with</em> you.</p>
<p>Meryl smiles and soldiers on, the only one who Knows.</p>
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